The Internet has gained broad recognition and acceptance as a viable medium for communicating and for conducting business. The World-Wide Web (Web) is comprised of server-hosting computers (Web servers) connected to the Internet that serve hypertext documents (referred to as Web pages). Web pages are accessible by client programs (e.g., Web browsers) utilizing the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) via a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connection between a client-hosting device and a server-hosting device. While HTTP and Web pages are the prevalent forms for the Web, the Web itself refers to a wide range of protocols and Web content formats.
A Web site is conventionally a related collection of Web files that includes a beginning file called a “home” page. From the home page, a visitor can access other files and applications at a Web site. A large Web site may utilize a number of servers, which may or may not be different and may or may not be geographically-dispersed. For example, the Web site of the International Business Machines Corporation (www.ibm.com) consists of thousands of Web pages and files spread out over multiple Web servers in locations world-wide.
A Web server (also referred to as an HTTP server) is a computer program that utilizes HTTP to serve files that form Web pages to Web clients. Exemplary Web servers are International Business Machines Corporation's family of Lotus Domino® servers and the Apache server (available from www.apache.org). A Web client is a requesting program that also utilizes HTTP. A browser is an exemplary Web client for use in requesting Web pages and files from Web servers. A Web server waits for a Web client, such as a browser, to open a connection and to request a specific web page or application. The Web server then sends a copy of the requested item to the Web client, closes the connection with the Web client, and waits for the next connection.
HTTP allows a browser to request a specific item (i.e., “content”), which a Web server then returns and the browser renders. To ensure that browsers and Web servers can interoperate unambiguously, HTTP defines the exact format of requests (HTTP requests) sent from a browser to a Web server as well as the format of responses (HTTP responses) that the Web server returns to the browser. Exemplary browsers include Netscape Navigator® (America Online, Inc., Dulles, Va.) and Internet Explorer® (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash.). Browsers typically provide a graphical user interface for retrieving and viewing Web pages, applications, and other resources served by Web servers.
Unfortunately, latency problems associated with data flow over the Internet have fostered the perception that many Internet communications and transactions are slow and unreliable. Latency is the time elapsed between requesting content via a client and receiving the content from a server. Latency associated with client-server communications via the Internet may be affected by many factors such as bandwidth, Internet infrastructure, packet routing techniques, and transfer protocols. Lower latency and higher bandwidth technologies, such as optical switches and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technologies have been deployed to decrease perceived latency and to improve reliability associated with client-server communications. However, the dramatic increase in Internet usage worldwide may continue to offset many of the improvements in latency provided by these and other new technologies.
With the increasing mobility of today's society, the demand for mobile computing capabilities has also increased. Many workers and professionals are downsizing their laptop computers to smaller palm-top or hand-held devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs). In addition, many people now utilize wireless devices, such as cellular telephones, to access the Internet and to perform various other computing functions. Wireless devices may include, but are not limited to, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular telephones, pagers, and communicators. Many wireless devices also utilize the Microsoft® Windows® CE and 3Com Palm® Computing platforms. With the advent and development of wireless telecommunications systems and technologies, wireless Internet access is increasing worldwide. Wireless Internet access is conventionally obtained by users of wireless devices via Wireless Service Providers (WSPs).
Unfortunately, access to the Internet via wireless devices can be plagued by high latency. In general, HTTP and TCP are not optimized for the intermittent coverage, long latencies and limited bandwidth associated with wireless networks. HTTP sends its headers and commands in an inefficient text format instead of compressed binary. Wireless services using these protocols can be slow, costly, and difficult to use. Wireless security standards may require many messages to be exchanged between client and server, which, with wireless transmission latencies, may result in slow responses for users.
As the Web has evolved into a viable commercial medium, advertising has become an important source of revenue. Conventional advertising via the Internet is a client-server process, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Conventionally, a client (e.g., a Web browser or microbrowser executing on a client device 10) sends a request for content (e.g., a Web page) to a server executing on a server-hosting device (e.g., a Web server 20). The server returns the requested Web page to the client and directs the client to a separate ad server 22 in order to obtain an advertisement to be inserted within the Web page. Conventionally, a client receives the Web page and then waits for an advertisement to be served from a designated ad server for placement within the Web page.
Conventionally, Web servers impose restrictions on advertisements that prevent advertisements from being stored locally (i.e., “cached”) by client devices. By preventing caching, advertisements are allowed to change and rotate independently of the content within which they are placed. For example, a client may make multiple requests for the same content; however, different advertisements may be placed within the content at each separate request.
Conventionally, Web servers invoke some logic by which advertisements are selected for inclusion within user-requested content. For example, a Web server may use information about a user making a client request and/or about a user request being made to determine what advertisement to place within user-requested content. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 2, a user makes a request 13 to a Web server 20 via a client device 10 (e.g., a personal computer, PDA, or other type of wireless device). The Web server 20 includes logic for selecting an advertisement to be included within the requested content. A selected advertisement can be retrieved from a database and returned to the client with the content (i.e., in the response 15). Alternatively, the client can be directed to make a request 17 for an advertisement from an ad server 22. The ad server 22 serves the advertisement 19 to the client for insertion within the content provided by the Web server 20.
Unfortunately, client-server communications via the Internet wherein advertisements are requested from ad servers can be plagued by high latency.
Wireless content publishers also may provide advertisements within user-requested content, often as interstitial displays within a sequence of content displays (cards). Unfortunately, advertising may increase latency as a wireless client retrieves an advertisement for insertion within user-requested content. Moreover, the use of interstitial advertising also can delay the display of subsequent content. Advertisements that induce latency are not likely to be welcomed by wireless device users or wireless device content providers.
As the use of handheld computing/communications devices increases (e.g., PDAs, pagers, cellular telephones, web-enabled radiotelephones, and/or other mobile/wireless devices), commercial entities are continuously looking for new ways to enhance revenue via the delivery of advertising and other information to users of these handheld devices.